vRODEO continued from page 21 v same people that we camp by and we always grill out together afterwards and we all make breakfast in the morning. It’s just a really cool thing to be part of,” Donnelly said. She also competes in high school rodeo, though Elk PointJefferson doesn’t have a school oriented rodeo team. “It’s not seen as a sport for our school, but in order to high school rodeo, our principal has to sign off on a paper that we are passing our classes and we meet these certain requirements,” Donnelly said. In high school rodeo there are two weekend competitions which count for four regional rodeos. The weekends are always in Watertown and Huron and competitors need four points in an event to qualify for the state high school rodeo in Belle Fouche at the end of June. Donnelly qualified for the state rodeo in goat tying, breakaway, team roping, poles and barrels and qualified for the short go in breakaway and poles even with a borrowed horse. “My sister was actually at junior high nationals in Des Moines with our good pole horse, so I borrowed a horse,” she said. “I had so many points from regionals and I had a good clean run at state, so I ended up making it to short go. The short go is the top 20. They take the top 20 in each event and you go and compete against each other. “I made it in breakaway, caught my calf, but I had missed on one of the previous days so I missed my points. I was too far down to make it to nationals. That was the first time I made it to short go for high school in two events, so that was nice.” Donnelly did qualify for high school nationals two years ago in poles, which are held each year in Rock Springs, Wyoming. “That was a lot of fun,” she said. “For high school it’s harder to make it to nationals because they take the top four and since we only have four regional rodeos if you have one bad day at state that can kind of mess with you a little bit because it’s based off of points and it’s really tight races because everybody comes to compete.” After graduating this spring, Donnelly will look to continue competing in rodeos at the college level at the University of Wyoming. “In colleges they have rodeo” she said. “I’m actually looking at Laramie, Wyoming and I’m thinking about joining the rodeo team there. It would be kind of the same thing that I do now, but there’s always something going on.” Even if that doesn’t work out, Donnelly wants to continue to be part of rodeo in some way and continue riding. “I’ve always thought about getting involved with something where I could ride every day and looking at volunteering,” she said. vBy Elyse Brightman We would love to hear about who and what inspires you. Know someone that should be featured in hervoice? Submit to: hervoiceonline.com Complete Dentistry For The Whole Family •Friendly Staff • Great Environment • Beautiful Smiles Missing teeth? Trouble chewing? Dr. Reardon has extensive experience in Dental Implants. Schedule an appointment today! 22vHERVOICEvJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 v You can view our website at yanktondentist.com to find out more about our office William Reardon, DDS 1100 Broadway Ave., Yankton • (605)-668-CARE:)2273 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8am-5pm • Closed Saturday & Sunday v v